Tag: Water

297 posts found, showing 20 per page

Newsletter article Bill Price February 7, 2015
How Does the WV Legislature ♥ Dirtier Water? Let Us Count the Ways…
This was certainly the week of water in the WV Legislature. I wish I could say that it was a good thing. But unfortunately, members of the Legislature seem determined to move us backward by leaps and bounds when it comes to ensuring that people in WV have safe, clean water to drink, to make baby formula with, to take medicine with or to brush our teeth with. They seem determined to put the interests of the polluters over the health and well- being of our people. They talk about the costs of strong laws to industry, but ignore the cost of last year’s chemical spill to businesses, particularly small businesses, and the years of disregard for water quality standards in our rural areas where people are dependent on private wells for drinking water. More
Issues: Aluminum, Pollution, Selenium, Water

Newsletter article Vickie Wolfe February 7, 2015
“Gutting the Aboveground Storage Tank Act”
The worst bill to hit the ground this week was H.B. 2574/S.B. 423, "Amending the Aboveground Storage Tank Act." It should read "Gutting the Aboveground Storage Tank Act." The Aboveground Storage Tank Act was created by last year's landmark S.B. 373, which passed both houses unanimously. More
Issues: Legislation, Regulation, Water

Newsletter article Rob Goodwin February 7, 2015
Coal Industry Took a Risk with Mountaintop Removal and Are Asking Legislature for a Bail Out
House Bill 2566, the Coal Jobs and Safety Act of 2015, should be called the Coal Industry Bail Out Act of 2015.Testimony from Alpha Natural Resources and the WV Coal Association this week before committees in the House and Senate could not have made the intent of this act clearer. The proposal is an effort through deregulation to cut costs in a struggling industry. A major component of the bill is to create a permit shield that will attempt to enable the coal industry to escape the liability in clean-up costs of hundreds of miles of streams it has polluted through the misguided risky practice of Mountaintop Removal. More
Issues: Coal, DEP, Pollution, Water

Newsletter article Vickie Wolfe February 7, 2015
The Aluminum Rule Change is Baa-ack…
You may recall that a couple of years ago, the DEP proposed a rule change that would calculate allowable levels of aluminum in streams based on the water's hardness. During the 2014 legislative session, the Senate asked the DEP to pull the rule change, because legislators didn't think it would be a good idea to vote for dirtier water so soon after the Freedom Industries spill. More
Issues: Aluminum, Coal, DEP, Water

Newsletter article Conni Lewis February 7, 2015
What I know about coal and the industry
At Thursday's public hearing on the "Coal Jobs and Safety Act of 2015", I was proud to see environmentalists and the UMWA stand together in opposition to an assault on safety, our shared environment and, in fact, hope for the future. It's a shame that it's necessary to even have such a hearing, a shame that the coal industry even wants these changes and a shame that the industry wants people and our waters to pay the price for their actions. Environmentalists and coal miners shouldn't be adversaries, but it is in other people's interests to make it seem that way. More
Issues: Coal, Water

Newsletter article Vickie Wolfe February 7, 2015
Come to our press conference on Monday! & other important calendar items
Members of the WV Safe Water Roundtable are organizing a press conference to express our deep concern about the number of bills that propose to weaken water protections. We need lots of clean water fans in the room to demonstrate that citizens are alarmed about this! The press conference will be Monday, February 9 at 10:00 a.m. in the McManus conference room (252M), on the hallway near the House chamber. Be there! More
Issues: Eday, Water

Legislative Updates WVEC February 7, 2015
GREEN Vol. 25 Issue 4
How Does the WV Legislature ♥ Dirtier Water? Let Us Count the Ways, “Gutting the Aboveground Storage Tank Act”, Update on Category A, Coal Industry Took a Risk with Mountaintop Removal and Are Asking Legislature for a Bail Out, The Aluminum Rule Change is Baa-ack , What I know about coal and the industry , Net Metering Bills take on new meaning this week, Come to our press conference on Monday! & other important calendar items, Additional Reading, Bills We Are Tracking More
Issues: Coal, DEP, Net metering, Pollution, Water

Newsletter article Vickie Wolfe February 7, 2015
Additional Reading
Last month the EPA released a scientific report called "Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters" that demonstrates the importance of small streams and wetlands to downstream water quality. The report is based on current scientific research, specifically 1,200 publications from peer-reviewed scientific literature. More
Issues: Climate change, Coal, Water

Action Alerts Vickie Wolfe February 3, 2015
Urgent: Water Under Multiple Attacks!
THREE MAJOR ATTACKS ON WATER IN ONE ACTION ALERT! 1) Drinking Water Protections in Jeopardy Waters classified as “Category A” by WV’s Water Quality Standards are protected for current or future drinking water use. An industry amendment to severely limit Category A protections is expected to be voted on by the Senate Natural Resources Committee tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2 p.m. More
Issues: Water

Newsletter article Vickie Wolfe February 1, 2015
Support Category A Protection for Our Waters
The DEP has proposed a rule change that would restore "Category A" protection for the Kanawha River. If the rule change is approved, West Virginia American Water would have the option of placing a second intake on the Kanawha near WVAW's Charleston treatment plant. More
Issues: Water

Newsletter article Bill Price January 25, 2015
Dismantling Silos
This past Friday and Saturday, I went to the Peoples’ Concerned about Chemical Safety’s conference entitled “Looking Forward”. The goals of the conference were to have residents have conversations about local chemical safety, look at how solutions that have worked elsewhere, and to be a part of local solutions to prevent water contamination. And there’s that common thread again….water contamination. More
Issues: Coal, MCHM, Water

Legislative Updates WVEC January 25, 2015
GREEN Vol. 25 Issue 2
Dismantling Silos | Can Young Innovation and Entrepreneurship Change the Course of the 2015 Regressive Legislature? | Repeal of the Alternative and Renewable Portfolio Standards Act Passes both Houses | Debate highlights W.Va.’s inaction on energy diversity, efficiency | Here’s a Great Idea–Let’s Shoot Ourselves in Both Feet! | Important Dates ‘n Other Stuff | Bills We Are Tracking More
Issues: DEP, Energy, Energy efficiency, Renewable energy, Water

Newsletter article Vickie Wolfe January 25, 2015
Important Dates ‘n Other Stuff
February 18: E-day at the Capitol, followed by the WVEC's awards dinner that evening. More... More
Issues: Renewable energy, Water

Legislative Updates WVEC January 19, 2015
GREEN Vol. 25 Issue 1
Introducing the New Lobbying Team |House and Senate committees take up repeal of AREP Act early on | Yes, you can! Make a difference, that is | The January 9th Chemical Disaster and Moving Forward on Water through the Legislature, Evolution! Change! Transition! More
Issues: Energy, MCHM, Renewable energy, Water

Newsletter article Rob Goodwin January 18, 2015
The January 9th Chemical Disaster and Moving Forward on Water through the Legislature
The opening week of the west Virginia legislative session will be marked for generations as the anniversary of the January 9th MCHM Chemical Disaster of 2014 that contaminated the water of 300,000 West Virginian’s including the state capitol. The 2015 Legislative session kicked off this past week marking the first anniversary of the disaster that should dominate the environmental policy discussion among law makers for generations to come. Despite the disappointing fact that Gov. Tomblin propped up coal and gas in his state of the state address last week and failed to mention the water crisis or clean up of streams in any way shape or form, there are some encouraging words from WVDEP. More
Issues: DEP, MCHM, Water

Action Alerts Marium Bria January 7, 2015
Take Action This Month!
This month marks one year after the chemical leak and water crisis. Much work is ongoing to fix the problems that led to the crisis - from efforts to ensure that aboveground storage tanks are properly regulated, to advocacy for improved chemical safety in the Kanawha Valley, to Advocates for a Safe Water System's work to improve the safety of our water system. Below is a calendar of events for January 2015, including Advocates for a Safe Water System's leadership training on January 17th. Please join us for these events to get involved in making sure that last year's water crisis never happens again. More
Issues: MCHM, Water